You are here

Pages

Local Shank dev Klei Entertainment has announced what looks like a proper stealth side-scroller called Mark of the Ninja. From what little there is to see, it has the feel of a 2D Tenchu, or what old-school Ninja Gaiden would have been like if you actually, you know, acted like a ninja: sneak, avoid, distract, strike.

You have to play a little text adventure (co-written by Chris Dahlen of Save the Robot/Kill Screen, which bodes interesting for the game) to earn the gameplay teaser trailer.

I'd always meant to check out the Shank games, but now I'm definitely probably grabbing this taffer. Slated for XBLA in "summer 2012".

Gravey, I'm never sure, on a scale of 1-10, just how serious you are when you post. – Minarchist

No, but I'm looking forward to it. My first playthrough was pretty terror based, so I went stealth pacifist my second one, and I'll pick up the terror suit somewhere through the third. The game is totally different now that I'm not killing people.

By the way, the stealth suit? No sword, and no attack items. It's still possible to kill people (with indirect kills), but why ruin the streak? When you can't kill people some of the objectives become very different puzzles.

Speaking of which... There are at least two levels where you HAVE to kill people. Yet it still counts those kills against you for the bonus at the end of the level for not killing anyone. That seems kind of wrong, but I don't think there is any way around it.

I am waiting with bated breath. This will be loaded onto my HDD the second it is available.

So torn about whether to get this now on Xbox or later on PC. Part of me says to save the MS points and get the PC version. The other part of me says that I can't think of anything to save the points for.

I am waiting with bated breath. This will be loaded onto my HDD the second it is available.

So torn about whether to get this now on Xbox or later on PC. Part of me says to save the MS points and get the PC version. The other part of me says that I can't think of anything to save the points for.

If you have the points why not use them? The game is good enough where I would double dip during a steam sale just to have it in more then one location.

I am waiting with bated breath. This will be loaded onto my HDD the second it is available.

So torn about whether to get this now on Xbox or later on PC. Part of me says to save the MS points and get the PC version. The other part of me says that I can't think of anything to save the points for.

If you have the points why not use them? The game is good enough where I would double dip during a steam sale just to have it in more then one location.

Right. But I suspect I might wind up double dipping too, and at that point, why not wait? I don't know if there are any good XBLA games on the horizon that are worth waiting for. I never picked up Fez, but I'm really not convinced I'd love that one.

Right. But I suspect I might wind up double dipping too, and at that point, why not wait? I don't know if there are any good XBLA games on the horizon that are worth waiting for. I never picked up Fez, but I'm really not convinced I'd love that one.

It sounds like you prefer playing on the PC. If that is the case, it never hurts to wait (well maybe a little). For me, it didn't matter and I liked the demo enough where it was an insta-purchase. It helps that I always get my points on sale too which makes it 20% cheaper.

Was having a bad night last night, and didn't really have access to my PC, so decided to buy Mark of the Ninja since my account is now unlocked. Got it bought, started the download, and halfway through, the wind storm going on knocked out the power. Power stayed out until about 2am.

Was having a bad night last night, and didn't really have access to my PC, so decided to buy Mark of the Ninja since my account is now unlocked. Got it bought, started the download, and halfway through, the wind storm going on knocked out the power. Power stayed out until about 2am.

Obviously someone does not want me playing this game.

That sucks. I didn't lose power but the storm kept me up for quite a while.

Was having a bad night last night, and didn't really have access to my PC, so decided to buy Mark of the Ninja since my account is now unlocked. Got it bought, started the download, and halfway through, the wind storm going on knocked out the power. Power stayed out until about 2am. I tripped over the ottoman, and when the lights came back on there were a half-dozen shuriken embedded in the wall.

Obviously someone does not want me playing this game.

Gravey, I'm never sure, on a scale of 1-10, just how serious you are when you post. – Minarchist

Encouragingly, Klei seems very dedicated to doing this port up in proper fashion. Lead designer Nels Anderson told me that Klei’s currently tweaking mouse-and-keyboard controls until they’re just so, and he also noted that Games For Windows Live absolutely, positively won’t be involved in any way, shape, or form.

While I was certainly happy with Ninja when we sent it off to Microsoft for certification, I had absolutely no inkling that folks would consider it to be in the same league as any of those games [the highest-rated XBLA games of all time]. I'm humbled and still utterly shocked. I respect and admire those games tremendously, and to create something that would even be spoken of in the same breath is something I wasn't sure I'd ever accomplish in my career as a designer, let alone on my first game. I'm still not really able to process that.

And specific to the stealth genre:

More than anything else though, it's edifying that this kind of reaction means there is a place for this kind of game. Something emphasizing player-centric systems and intentional play. Something that doesn't compromise what it wants to be. I've loved stealth games for a long time, and more importantly, the type of design they represent. Being able to create something that's considered a worthwhile addition to that canon is still almost unbelievable.

Good job, us! And future us that will be getting it on Steam!

Gravey, I'm never sure, on a scale of 1-10, just how serious you are when you post. – Minarchist

Off topic, but it kind of reminds me of a U2 segment on 360 Minutes years ago. Bono was talking about the longevity of the band and reflecting on how cool it would have been if The Beatles had stayed together longer and kept producing albums into their middle age, etc. He was quick to follow up with something to the effect of, "Not that I'm trying to compare ourselves to The Beatles, we're barely worthy to kiss the hem of their robes."

A bit melodramatic, but still refreshing to hear artists that respect their popularity but are not caught up in the wave of their own success.

I have suits! A bunch of them unlocked today/tonight, and man... I keep getting paralyzed by the trade-offs and end up with the default one, or Might, since I can't give up the versatility of having both distraction and attack items. But I did spend most of a level with the Terror suit and that was pretty fun, in addition to looking bloody badass.

I like how the suits can (theoretically, if I chose them) direct play, and of course how the objectives do, since they're needed to cash in for unlocks. However, the points system is a bit odd. Specifically, you get a big bonus for not killing any guards. But if you kill just one guard, you lose the bonus—at which time, if you're after points (and the unlocks depend on them, not to mention the leaderboard FWIW) you're best off to try to kill every guard (in addition to distracting/terrorizing them and hiding their bodies). There's no middle ground, from an efficiency perspective: it's either nobody or near-as-you-can-get-to-everybody.

For instance, at one point I could pickpocket a key from a guard flanked by two others—and pickpocket him I did, most deftly and totally unnoticed. Then key in hand and ready to move on I thought, "Well, I've killed at least one guard so far so I'd just be leaving points on the table here", so quickly, stealthily, and otherwise totally unnecessarily, murdered the three of them and dumped their bodies for the extra 2150 points.

So until I get to replay for the ghost achievement, I am an unstoppable dervish of death, robotically scouring every level high and low, coldly soaking them with the blood of anyone I find standing. I'm hoping for thematic payoff—he does feel insane, the way I'm playing him. This ninja probably shouldn't live once his mission's done.

Gravey, I'm never sure, on a scale of 1-10, just how serious you are when you post. – Minarchist

I'm loving doing the ghost achievement, it totally changes up the gameplay from the first time I played. I'm frustrated that there are a couple levels where it's IMPOSSIBLE not to kill someone for storyline reasons, but they still count that kill against you at the end of the level.

Edit: Also, because I was going for 'no kills, no alarms', I totally missed the lack of a sword until one frustrated moment when I realized I COULDN'T kill someone even if I wanted.

I'm loving doing the ghost achievement, it totally changes up the gameplay from the first time I played. I'm frustrated that there are a couple levels where it's IMPOSSIBLE not to kill someone for storyline reasons, but they still count that kill against you at the end of the level.

Edit: Also, because I was going for 'no kills, no alarms', I totally missed the lack of a sword until one frustrated moment when I realized I COULDN'T kill someone even if I wanted. :-D

The ghost achievement is easiest to get on the second run-through, once you have the teleport ability.

I just read this is coming to PC, that is so cool! I do have a 360, but getting points just for this feels silly and you always have extra points left after purchasing that you can't use on anything else (decent). Here's hoping the PC (steam?) version has 360 controller support...

I just read this is coming to PC, that is so cool! I do have a 360, but getting points just for this feels silly and you always have extra points left after purchasing that you can't use on anything else (decent). Here's hoping the PC (steam?) version has 360 controller support...

I'm sure it will. Has there been any ports from XBLA to PC that haven't?

The only reason I don't mind the points is because I always get them for 20% to 25% off from Buy.com or eBay. Besides that, they are just annoying.

Seattle, where the weather is unlikely to kill you in an interesting fashion.

mudbunny wrote:

Jolly Bill wrote:

I'm loving doing the ghost achievement, it totally changes up the gameplay from the first time I played. I'm frustrated that there are a couple levels where it's IMPOSSIBLE not to kill someone for storyline reasons, but they still count that kill against you at the end of the level.

Edit: Also, because I was going for 'no kills, no alarms', I totally missed the lack of a sword until one frustrated moment when I realized I COULDN'T kill someone even if I wanted. :-D

The ghost achievement is easiest to get on the second run-through, once you have the teleport ability.

The ghost achievement is easily gotten by going back to the first or second level (can't remember which one I did it on) and replaying it. I got Ghost, Mercy and Masterful all at the same time that way, without any fancy suits or anything like that.

Let's discuss the ending, just in time for all the new PC players. Welcome!

Spoiler:

It's a fun story, if not exactly emotionally riveting like Bastion, but the lead-up to the end was interesting enough to make me pause at the final choice. To be honest, I had no indication that the final level was populated by hallucinations other than one of the seal objectives. (And I'm still not sure what the significance of the flowers having been dead for a year is, since Dosun isn't a hallucination—I don't think.) But in any case, when Ora said the whole clan needs to be cleansed, that was my tip-off that not all was well with our ninja, mentally.

I really don't know what Azai's culpability in the robbery or whatever is, but when it finally came to making the last choice, I decided that it didn't matter—the only thing I knew for sure was that Azai unleashed—

Does the ninja even have a name? I just call him Mark.

Spoiler:

—Azai unleashed Mark the stone-cold mass murderer (the way I played him), so Azai gets what's coming to him and his poor decision-making. Satisfying resolution from a story perspective!

Then I replayed it and killed Ora. Sensible ending, but less satisfying.

Gravey, I'm never sure, on a scale of 1-10, just how serious you are when you post. – Minarchist